Wastewater study technique finds virus variants sooner; many patients are using meds affected by Paxlovid

With just a very small amount of raw sewage and a new analysis technique, researchers can determine the genetic mixture of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the community and detect new variants up to 14 days before they start showing up on patients' nasal swabs, according to a new report. Tests of a new method for wastewater genomic surveillance at the University of California, San Diego campus from November 2020 to September 2021 detected the Epsilon, Alpha and Delta variants 'earlier and more consistently than clinical samples, and identified multiple instances of virus spread' that were not detected with traditional monitoring, researchers reported on Thursday in Nature.